Area craftsmen reproduces 'America's most important piece of furniture'

Article Photos

Fairfield Township resident Eugene Landon's work as a master craftsman has allowed him access to some of the world's most historic furniture, but nothing compares to his current project.

Landon, who has achieved national and international acclaim making museum-quality reproductions of historic cabinets and furniture, is working on the second of two reproductions of the "Rising Sun" chair on which George Washington sat during the Constitutional Convention in 1787.

The first reproduction of what has been called "America's most important piece of furniture" will go to Lycoming College, where it will be used for special ceremonies, Landon said.

The second, which is nearing completion, is destined for the new Constitution Center in Philadelphia, he said.

"Where do you go from here? This is the most important piece of furniture in America," Landon said. "What do you do for an encore?"

Landon was commissioned to produce the chair for Constitution Center by Dr. John M. Templeton Jr., a physician, investor and philanthropist from Philadelphia.

Landon said Templeton contacted him last year. He then went to Philadelphia twice to photograph, measure and make pencil rubbings of the chair, which is in Independence Hall.

Landon said he took hundreds of photographs and measurements of the chair. All the while, he was in awe of historical significance of the piece, he said.

"You're touching history - the chair the father of our country sat on," he said. "You're overwhelmed with awe because this is such a historical piece."

Although both chairs are made from mahogany and white oak, what sets the Constitution Center reproduction apart from the Lycoming College chair - apart from where it will be displayed - are the unique materials incorporated into its construction.

The face of the "rising sun" on the back of the chair is being constructed from a small piece of the last living Liberty Tree and covered with gold leaf.

The tree, a poplar estimated to be 400 to 600 years old, was located on the grounds of St. John's College, Annapolis, Md., the alma mater of Francis Scott Key.

The tree has quite a history.

Annapolis settlers and Susquehannock Indians signed a peace treaty under its branches in 1652. In the 1770s, it became one of 13 so-called Liberty Trees - one for each of the original 13 colonies under which colonists met to organize in rebellion against Great Britain.

Colonists met under the tree prior to the city's own version of the Boston Tea Party, and French soldiers camped under the tree en route to the Battle of Yorktown in 1781.

The tree was cut down in 1999 and taken to a landfill, but its story did not end there. Mark Mehnert, of Arnold, Md., followed the tree to the landfill and received permission to rescue the wood.

In 2001, Landon was contacted by the wood's current owners, who searched throughout the United States for a suitable craftsman.

Landon has crafted numerous pieces from the wood, notably a life-sized bald eagle, Bible boxes presented to former U.S. presidents Jimmy Carter and George W. Bush, busts of presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, and Washington's coat of arms.

The eagle is on display at Constitution Hall, Landon said.

According to Landon, only about "a couple hundred board-feet" of the tree remains unused and all of that is in very small pieces.

A very rare red Russian leather made from reindeer skins, which also has a unique history, is being used for the chair, Landon said.

According to documents provided by Landon, the leather was recovered from the wreck of the Danish cargo ship Die Frau Metta Catharina, which sunk near the coast of England in 1786.

The ship sank in about 100 feet of water after being driven into the rocks of St. Nicholas Island and soon was covered with silt from the nearby Tamar River.

It later was discovered by divers searching for another sunken vessel.

The air-tight, sunless environment in which the ship was buried helped preserve much of the leather, according to the documents.

The white oak used to frame the chairs' seats was recovered from an 1820s-era barn that was razed, Landon said.

When he went to Independence Hall to study the original chair, Landon said he found it to be worn and in disrepair.

The carvings on the chair's arms were worn off and the legs were "chewed up from boots and things," he said.

Landon studied similar pieces of furniture from that era to determine how he should carve the arms.

The pattern he chose was from a set of chairs made for John Penn, the son of William Penn. Landon said he chose the pattern because the chairs contained a feather pattern engraved in the arm posts that were similar to the Rising Sun chair.

According to the National Park Service, the Rising Sun chair was built by John Folwell in 1779.

Landon said he used techniques and tools for the reproductions that Folwell would have used to build the original chair.

"I made it all with hand tools. I did all the carving by hand, one little chip at a time," he said.

In addition to its most famous feature, the chair's back contains intricate carvings that Landon performed by hand: Cornucopias, wheat, corn stalks, waterfalls and tassels held in place by a carved "nail."

"These are things symbolic of America's plenty," Landon said.

Landon said witnesses to the Constitutional Convention had recounted Benjamin Franklin, prior to signing the finished Constitution, pointing to the sun on the chair and remarking how it was difficult to determine whether the sun was in fact rising or setting.

Franklin added that he then had no doubt that the sun was rising.